This invention is directed generally to the power monitoring arts, and more particularly, to an Ethernet communication system for use with a power monitoring device.
While the invention may find other uses, the embodiment described herein is configured for use with a POWERLOGIC® power monitoring and control system which combines microprocessor-based instrumentation and control with internet software to provide information from an electrical distribution system. The system has such capabilities as alarm reporting, automatic control, high-accuracy instrumentation, power quality and disturbance monitoring and data sharing.
Heretofore, the communications for this POWERLOGIC system were provided by an Ethernet gateway device, which was a stand-alone device capable of communicating through an RS485 daisy chain with one or more power monitoring and/or control devices. The Ethernet gateway device (EGW) did not include a Hyptertext transfer protocol server, and hence was unable to communicate with HTML pages of browsers or other servers. The EGW uses an MMS (Manufacturing Message Specification) protocol capable of 10 MBS communications on the Ethernet side. Essentially, the EGW provided a gateway device only. While the EGW has found widespread acceptance in the market, there is room for further improvement. The Ethernet communications device and system of the present invention presents such an improvement.